Ray Wilson - NYS Licensed Inspector

Hello all A/R people. Yet another disaster waiting to happen at a home inspection today. I was doing a condo inspection in Rocky Point, N.Y. today and found long window curtains made from cotton in contact with an electric baseboard. This dwelling had all electric baseboards, and the contact between these two items is a recipe for disaster.

I also saw curtains at a previous house that were so close to the stovetop, that if you were to turn on the stovetop, these curtains could easliy catch on fire. It is so glaringly obvious to me, but I guess some people just do not see that these situations can end in disaster.

While I am on the subject of fire related issues, please remember to change the batteries in your smoke detectors, and check the hardwired ones as well.

Keep the Christmas tree safe from fire issues: Avoid too many extension cords plugged together to form an 'octopus', do not use candles on trees, and keep the tree watered so it does not dry out prematurely.

I hate the rash of disaster stories in the news around the holidays. If we all were a little more aware of these simple things, many lives would be spared.

Many people, including myself, complain about the attitude the sellers have in this market. They all want top dollar, but most won't get it anymore, and this hurts them in the pocketbook. Some do not realize how difficult it is to sell their home from an emotional standpoint either.

I did an inspection yesterday in Queens - Woodhaven to be exact. I arrived early so I could get a jump on the buyers and beat the traffic out of the area. The seller was an elderly woman in her 80's. I went in to speak to her so I could explain what I was to do. She was very gracious, and she kept her house tidy, although somewhat dusty because she can no longer keep the place up as well as she used to.

After I explained what I was to do, she started to show me some of the pictures that were on the shelf. Her neices and nephews, grandchildren, and of course her deceased husbands' pictures were all there. She enjoyed the fact that I spent 10 minutes with her looking at the past. It was difficult, but I felt it was the right thing to do. She seemed very lonely.

After the inspection, I thanked her, and then spoke to my clients regarding what I had found. There were some issues, but none that the buyer thought was a dealbreaker. They also told me that the seller was very pleased that I took the time to talk with her, so I left feeling good about my small, but significant good deed for the day.

One day, we will all be in this womans' shoes, so keep this in mind when you have a stubborn seller at a listing presentation. -Ray

It seems when a amateur installs a floor, it is usually easy to see it. Gaps between sections of laminated flooring is a tell-tale sign, but this is only one sign. Other signs are more difficult to detect. If wood flooring is installed without acclamation time (unwrapping the flooring so it can absorb moisture in the house it will be installed in), the wood floor can buckle, or recede when the moisture evaporates, leaving gaps.

I recently have seen several houses where the floors have buckled as they absorbed too much moisture after being installed. Other mistakes are caused by installing a floor up tightly against the wall. If this flooring absorbs moisture it may buckle because all flooring absorbs moisture and expands, and if it has nowhere to go, it buckles. The proper underlayment is also critical for floor installations.

The most difficult thing to detect is a sub-floor that has high and low areas, and its cause. You can feel this as the flooring feels unsupported as you walk on it. You think it is a poor installation, but if the basement is finished, or the house is built on a slab, you cannot detect why the flooring is spongy from the underside. Houses on concrete slabs will always have moisture that rises up from the soil underneath, and this moisture can wreak havoc on your floor.

Have a professional install your flooring if you are unsure about what to do. A beautiful house with a weak and spongy floor tells buyers someone either did a poor job, or may be trying to hide something. -Ray

As a member of a national home inspector association (NAHI), I go to monthly continuing education meetings here on Long Island. We usually will have a guest speaker who is an expert in their field. A while back, we had a cesspool company do a presentation. It was very informative.

One of the things our speaker talked about was a chemical called 'Rid-Ex' which is poured into various sinks and toilets in the house. This chemical contains enzymes that actually 'eat' and breakdown the solids in the cesspool. This will help keep your cespool working and releasing the effluent into the surrrounding soil.

It is always a smart idea to have your system checked annually also. Why wait for a disaster to happen. We have all heard of very old cesspools collapsing, and this is no way to 'take a bath'! -Ray

Most older homes I inspect have replacement windows, but many of these older windows do not have child safety stops or locks on them. These are usually plastic and protrude from the upper sash of a double hung window to keep the lower half of the window from opening more than a few inches. Windows with these types of safety locks SAVE LIVES EVERY DAY!

Most casement windows do not have this type of feature, but many sliding windows do. There are even stick-on 'stops' that will work on some types of windows that do not have safety stops.

If you have infants or young children, you want child safety stops on your windows, especially if you are well above ground level, or higher.

Don't loose a child over something so simple. Ask a local window dealer if you cannot find something that will work at your local home center. - Ray